Easier Than a Chia Pet

Easier Than a Chia Pet

A little greenery goes a long way toward counteracting the bro factor of a bachelor pad—but the last thing you want is high-maintenance flora. That's when you turn to the set-it-and-(mostly)-forget-it terrarium

When Nebuchadnezzar II built Babylon's Hanging Gardens for his wife, he was respecting a simple truth: Women dig plants. Guys, too, but few of us have the skill needed to keep them alive.

The solution: terrariums. They're easy to nurture, and they've shed their crunchy Whole Earth Catalog rep with cool designs like Score + Solder's ten-inch Cube and the wall-mounted Urbio, which isn't technically a terrarium but works just as well.

Once you have a container, pour in about an inch of small stones for drainage, a thin layer of charcoal to absorb any wayward funk, and enough soil to cover your vegetation's roots. We like cacti, air plants, succulents, and moss—they're cheap and don't need much water.

You'll spend a week or two finding a spot with the right amount of light, but after that a terrarium needs less attention than a middle child—a spritz every couple of weeks and periodic pruning. It's as much work as you'd do with any other plant, except this time everything stays alive.